Sorcerer… Cyborg???

Warning: There's a slightly disturbing scene at the end of the chapter, as always, just skip from the first ***** to the next *****.

[You've been working me like a machine, Silane.] Kothar wiped the sweat from his brow and looked around at the massive cavern he had created within the trunk of the willow.

[You'll thank me for the maze when you run into something nasty out there.] Silane said smugly, before even starting on any significant construction, she had made Kothar construct a complicated maze at the entrance, for safety's sake.

The cavern that Kothar had painstakingly carved out was mostly dark, only illuminated by the ball of lightning floating above Kothar and the glow of his plasma blade as he carved away chunks of wood.

From the outside, one might notice a tiny hole a short distance up the trunk of the willow, with a long willow branch hanging down from it, and a pile of tiny splinters outside the hole.

[To be fair, with the ridiculous mana here, I may as well be a machine, I don't eat, I barely need to rest, and I feel energized constantly.] Kothar marvelled, he had noticed himself becoming physically stronger with every day he was on Atla, which he had tentatively named this plane, in the absence of meeting any inhabitants.

[Yeah, since you're a machine, how about you get to work on that chimney, so we can get some proper light in here.] Silane chided Kothar.

[Alright, alright.] Kothar strolled over to the point Silane had marked out, and carefully aligned his palm with Silane's overlay.

Kothar channeled a massive surge of lightning mana to the Plasma Unit, and there was a large flash of light and Kothar's plasma blade shot out a huge surge of plasma that obliterated the wood in its path.

Kothar continued channeling mana to the Plasma Unit, and began to widen the hold he had created, soon enough, there was a narrow angled shaft that led to the outside.

Now that the chimney was ready, Kothar walked over to where he had set down the large flat piece of rock he had carved in advance, with a shallow dip in the center, and set it down below the chimney.

Kothar took up an armful of the wood shaving he had saved for this purpose, and tossed them onto the makeshift fireplace, setting them alight with a spark.

He smiled as soon as a warm orange glow suffused the cavern, flickering to reveal the scorch marks that covered the walls, evidence of his hard work with the plasma blade.

[Well, Silane, what now?] Kothar asked his ever present companion, he had fallen into an easy rhythm in the past few days, working hard at creating this space, that from the perspective of even a small animal of this world, would be miniscule.

[First a forge, then, we can create a waterwheel and use that to power a lift and a water pump. Then, we make Titanite.] Silane said slowly, she knew the impact the mention of creating Titanite would have on Kothar.

Kothar shuddered, it had been one of his first truly invasive procedures. While it hadn't left him feeling much different, he had seen the recordings of the procedure.

His entire skeleton had, bit by bit, been replaced by the alloy Titanite. In the early stages they had simply cut open his limbs to replace the bones, but as the technology had improved, and to save Kothar's health, entire swarms of nanobots had been injected near the bone site, and had slowly morphed the bone.

[Only if we do it with nanobots.] Kothar said after a long period of silence. He remembered the day he had realized that he couldn't feel anything along the entire outer half of his left arm, after they had replaced the bones and accidentally bisected a nerve.

While his sensation had been largely replaced by sensors in the later parts of his life, he wanted to keep as much of his visceral, pure experience as he could for as long as possible.

[Of course Kothar, we don't even have to do any internal upgrades, if that's what you want.] Silane said softly, showing Kothar the myriad exoskeleton plans she had created.

[No. If anything, we'll make both.] Kothar said firmly, but his tone softened as he realized that Silane had created these plans in the event that he didn't want to replace his internal structure with technology.

[Thank you, Silane.] Kothar said with a sigh.

Planes away, in a room lit by an eerie green glow, an elderly man, clad in the robes of a battlemage, with a wispy white beard, paced next to a large table.

*****

On the table was the body of a bird-like humanoid, arms and legs secured to the table with heavy manacles, and rib cage sawn in two, spread open with a retractor.

A closer look would reveal that the being's lungs were inflating and deflating, and its two hearts were beating away.

Even its beaked head was held to the table with a thick loop of metal, but its owlish eyes swung around wildly and only small gasps escaped its mouth.

The creature let out a loud screech of pain as Krieg absentmindedly sent a lance of purple spatial mana arcing toward its right heart.

*****

"Dammit all. How could I be so foolish?" Krieg threw up his hands in exasperation, and gave the bird-creature a look of pure disgust as he stormed away.

"It could've been the catalyst to my breakthrough, but my greed, my greed overcame me!" Krieg screamed out and began to wail.

"I must, I must find it!" Krieg said as he stomped into his office, the walls absolutely covered with drawings of a very familiar artifact.

"Perhaps.... No, it would be far too dangerous. But, the rewards, so great!" Krieg began to cackle, his eyes no longer held even the slightest clarity within them, and he rocked back and forth on his heels, mumbling and muttering to himself.